In the United States between June 1 and November 30, hurricanes threaten the Eastern and Southern coastlines. In other parts of the world, similar storms are called typhoons and cyclones. Hurricanes wreak havoc when they make landfall. Hurricanes can kill thousands of people and cause billions of dollars of property damage when they hit heavily populated areas.
Hurricanes are defined by the following characteristics: tropical; cyclonic; and low-pressure systems. Hurricanes form in tropical regions where there is warm water, moist air and converging equatorial winds. Thunderstorms reach hurricane status in three stages. The three stages comprise the tropical depression, tropical storm and hurricane. It can take anywhere from hours to days for a thunderstorm to develop into a hurricane. While the formation of hurricanes is not completely understood, three events must occur for hurricanes to form. A continuing evaporation-condensation cycle of warm, humid ocean air, patterns of wind characterized by converging winds at the surface and strong, uniform-speed winds at higher altitudes and a difference in air pressure between the surface and high altitudes are the three events.
More specifically, warm, moist air from the ocean surface begins to rise rapidly. As the warm air rises, its water vapor condenses to form storm clouds and droplets of rain. The condensation releases heat called latent heat of condensation. The latent heat warms the cool air aloft, thereby causing it to rise. The rising air is replaced by more warm, humid air from the ocean below. This cycle continues, drawing additional warm, moist air into the developing storm and continuously moving heat from the surface to the atmosphere. The exchange of heat from the surface creates a pattern of wind that circulates around a center.
Converging winds are winds moving in directions that run into each other. Converging winds at the surface collide and push warm, moist air upward. The rising air reinforces the air that is already rising from the surface, so the circulation and wind speeds of the storm increase. In the meantime, strong winds blowing at uniform speeds at higher altitudes help to remove the rising hot air from the storm's center, maintaining a continual movement of warm air from the surface and keeping the storm organized. High-pressure air in the upper atmosphere over the storm's center also removes heat from the rising air, further driving the air cycle and the hurricane's growth. As high-pressure air is sucked into the low-pressure center of the storm, wind speeds increase.
Once formed, hurricanes comprise three main parts. The parts are the low-pressure eye, eye wall and rain bands. The eye wall surrounds the eye and comprises the fastest, most violent winds. The rain bands comprise bands of thunderstorms circulating outward from the eye that are part of the evaporation/condensation cycle that feeds the storm.
Because of the deaths and damage, attempts have been made to re-direct, stop and/or tame hurricanes. Unfortunately, the attempts have been unsuccessful on many fronts. More specifically, the attempts have not worked, have been extremely complex and have impacted the environment.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for taming a hurricane wherein said apparatus and method work, are not overly complex and do not impact the environment.